Academic Writing in the Flipped EFL Classroom: A Case Study on Student Engagement in Oman

Background

Lack of student engagement in the EFL classroom has been a concern of a number of academic studies (Kuh, Hu, & Vesper, 1997; Sheard, Carbone, & Hurst, 2010). Several authors including Al Mahrooqi (2012) and Al Seyabi and Tuzlukova (2014) have argued that academic writing constitutes a major challenge to many EFL students in Oman, and it is often perceived as a source of disengagement. Engagement is conceptualized here as a multidimensional construct which involves four primary areas, namely, emotional, behavioural, cognitive, and agentic aspects (Reeve & Tseng, 2011; Skinner & Belmont, 1993). According to Skinner and Belmont (1993) engaged students are both behaviourally involved and emotionally positive. Consequently, they invest ‘intense’ and ‘concentrated effort’ while completing learning tasks and are ‘enthusiastic,’ ‘optimistic,’ ‘curious,’ and ‘interested’ in the learning process. In addition, these students utilize ‘deep thinking skills’ which reflects a high level of cognitive engagement. Reeve, Jang, Carrell, Jeon and Barch (2004) used agentic engagement theory to describe the degree to which students with this profile deliberately and constructively contribute to their own learning over time.